The Trouble With Running Away (Redone)
by TTY7
Summary: Kiki Uzumaki is a troubled teen with a dark past, struggling through life after choosing to run away from the problems that haunt her nightmares, mainly the reality of her mother and sister's disappearances. Through chance encounters, she meets and develops a friendship with Ichigo Kurosaki, never knowing these encounters will change the course of their lives and their worlds.


A/N: Basically this is a re-write of the original "Trouble With Running Away" I started two (nearly three) years ago. After watching some Bleach, I became inspired, so much so that I couldn't sleep and ended up writing for a good portion of the night after tossing and turning, trying to force the ideas to shut up, but no...There is no rest for the creative and overactive imagination of a fanfiction author and therefore, I am obligated to write down any idea that comes to mind, no matter how ungodly the time is. So this is a story about Kiki Uzumaki, a troubled teen with a dark and painful past. The full summary is below. Hope you guys enjoy the rewritten piece!

Full Summary: Kiki Uzumaki is a troubled teen with a dark past and a painful secret. So far she has led a moderately peaceful life, struggling to find her way in the world because she runs from the things that haunt her nightmares, mainly the reality concerning her sister and mother's disappearance. Through chance encounters, she crosses paths with Ichigo Kurosaki, never knowing that these encounters will dramatically change the course of their futures and the future of their worlds.

Some warnings are as follows. This story totally disregards the filler arcs in the anime (at the moment at least) and as the story continues there will be more changes to the original storyline. These changes, in my opinion, make this story, slightly AU I guess. I'm not sure what else to call it really. (Also, because this is a rewritten reboot of the original story I started years ago, updates may be a little slow.) In any case, here's the first chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. That distinction belongs to Tite Kubo. (That is, until I find the deed to his works and then they'll be mine! Wuhahaha!)

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Chapter 1

Prologue: Impending Graduation

My name is Kiki Uzumaki.

I've spent my life in mediocrity for the most part. I have tried my very best to live as a normal girl in this messed up world and have pretended to be ignorant of the monsters that haunt this town. Technically, they haunt every town, or at least every town that I visit. That fact hasn't changed in the least since that day all those years ago.

Still, living as if I don't know the truth corrupts my conscience. It's been that way for a long time and I didn't expect it to change anytime soon. The cycle of mediocrity goes on, never changing. The truth of what lies within the darkness is never revealed nor talked about and life goes on without pause or purpose for that matter. Yet, despite these things, I keep on living and try to be happy to some extent. Unfortunately, true happiness is something that will always allude me. The phrase, "fake it till I make it" has ended up being a continuous mantra in my head for that very reason.

"Kiki, hey! Are you listening?"

"_Speaking of faking it till I make it..._" Letting the thought trail off, I look up from my essay to see one of my newest acquaintances, Orihime Inoue, staring down at me with her grey eyes practically bulging out of her head from the cheerful expression she was sporting. There hasn't been a chance to really talk with her in two weeks, so her sudden presence next to my desk was a bit of a shock. I figured that she'd forgotten about me like most people did, preferring to spend time with some of her other friends. Orihime is nice to everyone though, so her schedule is kind of booked when it comes to talking and hanging out with people. Seems to me that she's always busy with something.

"Are you going to come to the party tomorrow night?" she questioned, grey eyes widening (if that's even possible at this point) in anticipation.

"Probably not," I answered simply, smiling halfheartedly. I didn't even know what party she was talking about, not that it really mattered. I'm not a party girl.

"What!" she exclaimed, those eyes twinkling with a luster that could be called anything but natural. "But you've just got to come Kiki! Everyone will be there!"

I had no plans to attend this gathering, but I went ahead and asked, "Where is this party going to be?" to humor her.

Orihime placed her hands on her hips. "At the school of course! It's the Senior Graduation Festival of Celebrations Dance!"

"Senior dance festival what?" The whole thing sounded like a big mouthful of jumbled up craziness to me.

"The Senior Graduation Festival of Celebrations Dance," she repeated after taking a long deep breath. "We're celebrating the fact that we only have one month until we graduate high school. All the seniors will be there Kiki! You just have to come!"

This did not sound appealing to me. I'm not the type of girl who goes to dances or anything like that. I'm a boring above average student who wears glasses and can actually see the paranormal things around me unlike the other billion people on this planet. Yeah, this so-called Senior Celebration Graduation Festival...whatever it's called dance screams trouble for a girl like me. Besides, I've already missed the biggest dance of the year. As silly as it sounds, I had always dreamed of going to the perfect prom when I was little…when I was normal.

Before that horrific day.

"So will you please, please, please come Kiki?" Orihime asked excitedly.

I shrugged, wracking my brain for an excuse and coming up empty. "I don't know Orihime. I'm going to be pretty busy as it is."

Orihime clasped her hands underneath her chin, her eyes sparkling as she pleaded, "Please, I don't want you to miss out on this Kiki!" With an excited yelp she added, "This is our Senior year, the most exciting year of our lives. We have to live it to the fullest! You never know what might happen in the future, so it's important to live for today!"

I honestly don't know how her speech compelled me to say yes. If I had to guess it was probably that ridiculous pout or the fact that she said "Live to the fullest". Whatever the case may be, it worked out in her favor.

Still, the second the words left my mouth, I regretted them.

"YAAAAAAAAY!"

"_Darn it_," I thought as Orhime continued to cheer, silently wishing that I'd had the guts to tell the girl no. I was just too nice for my own good I suppose. Oh well, at least the dance can serve as a distraction.

"Meet me and Tatsuki at the school at seven tomorrow night," Orihime commanded, gathering up her things from her desk. "Don't be late."

"Okay," I answered, the final bell ringing out as I spoke. The orange-haired girl waved back at me before rushing out of the classroom with a giant grin on her face. A slight giggle slipped from my lips and I shook my head. Glancing about I noted that some of the other students had stayed behind to finish writing something on the essays the teacher assigned us three weeks earlier. Since they're due tomorrow, all the students are busting their butts to finish it up. Mine has been finished for a while now, but I figured looking it over one more time couldn't hurt. Besides, I feel like there's something missing from the closing paragraph. Throughout the period I've tried to figure out what.

Truth be told, the topic of the essay was a hard thing for me to write about anyway. The assignment is to write about your outlook on life and what you think the future holds for you. Did I know the answer to this question?

The answer to that question is an obvious no, so I wrote a bunch of crap that would get me an A and not the truth, which would have resulted in an F+.

More lies; more deception. Does it ever end?

_Have you forgotten? __Have you forgotten t__he reason you came here; the reason you ran away?_

I would _never_ forget. How could I? The anguish that had torn through my soul that night still haunts me in my nightmares. I still bear the scars of those painful memories. Most of them have faded, but there's still one scar on my forehead. The single red slash that's covered thanks to the sweeping bangs of my dark auburn hair. Though covered, when I look in the mirror, I know it's hiding underneath the strands. When I push the hair away from it, I'm reminded of what happened back then. Nothing would ever erase it. No matter how much I try to forget, the memory returns and I remember the nightmare that I lived through.

That's the trouble with running away. The past always catches up to you in the end.

"Hey, Kiki."

The sudden nonchalant greeting caused me to gasp involuntarily. "_Was I that deep in thought?_" Looking up again, I find Ichigo Kurosaki standing next to my desk, staring down at me with a bit of a scowl on his face. He must have had trouble with the essay topic as well.

"Hey there," I answered, returning the slight scowl as I pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose. "Having a bad day?"

He shrugged. "You could say that."

An awkward silence followed between us. The truth is that Ichigo isn't someone I talk to much, at least not in the same way Orihime or his other friends would talk to him.

Ichigo Kurosaki was someone I'd seen in passing before I transferred to Karakura High last year. Before then I attended a smaller, private school. There I was known as the resident weirdo, so having somewhat bothersome conversations with bubbly people like Orihime wasn't a usual occurrence back then. There were a few preppy, mean girls who attempted to bully me by calling me names and other such foolishness. Of course, being the smart, tactful, no-nonsense girl that I am, allowed me to put them in their place really quick. All in all, I wasn't bothered by them again and I kept to myself unless prompted into a fray between catty girls.

You'd think going to an all-girl school would be a unifying experience, but unfortunately that didn't happen for me. Girl on girl crime was a big thing at that private school. In any case, the school was on the other side of the long bride that Ichigo and I had to walk across every day to get to school. My school was in a district of town on one end of the bridge and Kurakura high was on the other. We passed by each other almost everyday, on opposite sides of that bridge going in two different directions. He didn't notice me and I barely took note of him at that time. After all, he was just a high-school guy and I was a girl attending a private school across town.

He had abnormal spiritual pressure then, but it was nothing that needed my attention. I had much bigger things to think about than something as mundane as sensing an abnormal spiritual pressure. There were plenty of humans, like myself for instance, who have a somewhat elevated spiritual pressure and can see things other people can't. I didn't see it as a big deal, more as a reassurance that I wasn't the only one who could see the dead.

Thinking back on it now makes me want to smack myself for being so foolish. I've studied the actions of people around me for as long as I can remember. I'm an observer and a deep thinker. It's probably the only talent I have other than seeing monsters on a daily basis, so why on Earth did I rule Ichigo out as a possible threat without even knowing him? I must have been having an off day or something.

I shouldn't have shrugged off his abnormal spiritual pressure or the spiritual awareness that comes with it. At this point, I don't believe it to be a total coincidence that we passed by each other nearly every day for a good two years. The fact that I've been in Karakura town for nearly four years is crazy enough. My purpose for coming to this city at all was to find clues about my sister and my mother's disappearance, not settle into a community. I used to be a wanderer, traveling from one place to another aimlessly searching for something I had no hope of finding. I guess in the end, I gave up trying.

Coincidence or not though, I'm certain that he sensed my spiritual pressure too. He was a Soul Reaper at the time, so it's only natural that he would.

How I know this little detail about his life is the whole reason why I'm sitting in this classroom, mulling over a pointless essay.

Ichigo's brown eyes narrowed down on me, his scowl deepening in annoyance. "Kiki, everyone's left already."

"Yeah, I know Einstein," I blurted sarcastically, hastily stuffing my essay into my notebook before placing it in my open backpack, "Question is, why are you waiting around?"

"You know why," he scoffed, turning his gaze away. "Come on. Hurry up. You're going to make me late for dinner again."

Rolling my eyes I asked, "If you're so worried about dinner then why walk, excuse me, _follow, _me home everyday."

"Wha...I...I don't follow you!"

Yes he does, or at least he did the first three months of this school year. The reason, well, I can guess at a few but I'd never be totally certain of why he decided to follow me. How this whole situation came to be is a complicated mess, but I think the main reason Ichigo walks me home every day is because he needs to feel useful, to do things that are productive, or things that are helpful to others. Somehow, he's got it in his mind that I need an escort home all the time.

Of course there's that whole, "I witnessed his final battle as a Soul Reaper" thing to take into account as well.

How it happened is still a mystery to me. Before I moved to the small apartment where I live now, I had a small home on the outskirts of the city, near the mountains. I lived a somewhat nomadic lifestyle because of this. I had a little garden where I grew vegetables and herbs myself, I didn't have a washing machine or a dryer so I had to hang them on a clothes line, and I had no T.V., so for entertainment, I either read books and plays I had collected from various bookstores, or listened to CD's in an old boom box while cleaning. Along with the things I didn't have, I had a fridge, a stove, an oven, and thank heaven for this, a dishwasher!

My parakeet, Armadillo, was my only company out in the mountains. I've pretty much been on my own for most of my life aside from some unknown person sending me money. That in itself is a little disorienting, especially because this person manages to find me no matter where I go.

Then again, it's a _very_ generous donation with no strings attached. I'll roll with it.

Now on this particular day, I planned on making a stew for myself and Armadillo. I had carrots and potatoes growing in my garden, so I had that set, but unfortunately I was out of beef, which meant a long walk to the supermarket in town. If I had a car I could have gone to the store and been back within thirty minutes, but because I didn't and still don't, I would have to walk the distance which would take at least an hour and a half. It's not really something I minded though. Walking helped me to clear my head and kept me fit even if the walk wasn't ideal for the situation at hand.

So it takes me about forty-five minutes to reach the edge of town and another three to get to the general store I normally buy all my meat and grains from. Unfortunately for me, no one was working the cash register and there didn't seem to be a single employee in the whole store. I called out for Nia, the girl who usually rang up my purchases, but there was no answer. I wasn't fazed yet though because there was another general store a couple blocks down.

When I arrive, the same thing happens. No one's there.

I started to worry a little, especially because I was beginning to realize that there hadn't been any customers in either store and no one was walking around on the sidewalks outside the stores. At that point I'm thinking, "Maybe there's some sort of festival going on downtown."

After checking three more stores, I was certain that everyone in that part of the city was downtown for a festival.

Another hour of walking in the hot sun later, I reach the outskirts of the downtown district and still haven't seen a single person.

"Okay," I mumbled. "This is getting really weir..."

Before I could finish my sentence the most dreadful feeling twisted in my chest, making my knees shake involuntarily.

The force of the spiritual pressure was terrifying. It felt like a mix between some of the monsters I've had to run from and a really powerful Soul Reaper. There was something else too, something familiar.

On that account, "witnessed" isn't the best word to describe what happened after that. I felt a battle brewing long before I actually saw anything. I couldn't begin to decipher what was going on in this city or what it meant for me and the citizens of the town, wherever they were. The wiser part of my brain told me to turn around and run as fast as I could away from the city, pack up my things and Armadillo, and move into another city like I'd been meaning to for more than two years.

But something else compelled me to move forward, toward danger instead of away. Dropping my coupons I took off into a sprint, running toward the terrible source of power that made me tremble more and more with every step I took. Somehow I willed my legs to keep moving as the buildings slowly became taller, alerting me that I had reached the downtown district and should probably slow down to gather my bearings.

A loud scream suddenly carries into the wind, forcing me to stop in my tracks in order to catch my breath. Listening I honed into the sound, searching for where to turn in the four-way intersection I stood in. Glancing up I noted a column of smoke rising from a nearby building east of me. At most, I was three blocks away from where the action was taking place.

The more rational side of me was screaming for me to turn around and go home, but being rational wasn't in the cards that day.

Moving a bit more slowly to bear against the immense spiritual pressure weighing me down like gravity, I crept upon the scene, hiding behind one of the buildings that hadn't been demolished by the blast that was just created. Peeking from behind it I watched, hoping to keep my own spiritual pressure low as I surveyed the area.

There was a woman, with long strawberry blonde hair that resembled Orhime's. She wore the black shinigami kimono of the Soul Reapers with a pink scarf wrapped around her shoulders. Her light-blue, tear-filled eyes were locked on a man wearing the same type of kimono only in white, lying on top of a pile of rubble. Her hands were on his shoulders as if she were trying to force him awake but...

My eyes widened then. "_He must be dead, but who killed him?_"

Glancing I caught glimpses of five teens I would later call acquaintances: Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, and Chizuro. There were two men along with them. One was a soul reaper sporting an afro puff while the other was just some random, badly dressed guy I guess.

But my gazes on them only lasted for a few seconds.

A man, who looked like a cross between a Soul Reaper, a Hollow, and some random butterfly thing who desperately needed a haircut, stood before the crying woman and her deceased friend with an impassive impression. His eyes were a void of black and purple, completely soulless.

Something about those eyes seemed familiar to me, but I couldn't place why and after a few seconds of staring at him, I didn't want to know.

He clutched the sword in his right hand tighter. Instantly his spiritual pressure increased, sending me to my knees instantaneously as he prepared to attack. The woman was completely oblivious to the danger lurking right behind her. Still, if there's a possibility that she did know that he was about to strike, she probably didn't care. The poor woman was too lost in her grief.

Flashes of memories filtered through my head in those moments, memories of a night I wish I could forget. The night my mother and sister disappeared. A face, with dark eyes hidden behind glass lenses briefly flashes.

However before I could get a clear mental picture of the man and the evolved Hollows that called themselves Arrancars, the spiritual pressure from the butterfly man dropped, and he stopped his attack mid-swing.

Twisting my gaze to the left delivers a sight that almost robbed me of breath.

Back then, I knew nothing of Ichigo Kurosaki. I didn't even know his name. I only knew him as the guy I passed on the bridge on the way to school. I only knew that we could both see the dead, the monsters called Hollows, and Soul Reapers.

It never occurred to me that _he_ could have been a Soul Reaper, not until I saw it with my own eyes.

But his appearance was different from what I'd become accustomed to seeing on a daily basis. His hair was longer, the orange color of it slightly brighter. He had gained an inch or two in height as well. The right sleeve of the black Shinigami kimono was torn completely off, revealing the chains wrapped down the length of his arm, ending at his hand clad in a black glove that melded tightly around the hilt of an all black sword.

The most startling change though, was the look in his eyes. Yes, it's true that I had only seen him in passing until that point. I realize that I shouldn't have noticed any of these differences, or recognized him at all. What was he to me but a passing image?

He stood in the center of the rubble, his gaze shifting in my direction, but he looked past me. It was as if he were seeing beyond the towering buildings, looking for something in specific. When he caught sight of whatever he was looking for, he smiled and mumbled something to himself before turning toward teens who I knew had to be his friends.

He called out their names with that calm, serene looking smile still on his face. That smile alone was bizarre in itself. In all the times I'd passed him along the bridge, I had never seen him smile like that, not that I really expected him too. Seriously, who's ever happy to go to school?

Still, he wasn't always alone when I passed him. Sometimes Orihime would be by his side, or Rukia, Keigo and Mizuiro, a lot of the time it was Chad since they kind of had the same aura about them, and occasionally, though never without some of the formers present, Uryuu Ishida.

Even when immersed in a simple conversation, the guy did not smile. He was just more prone to scowling. The closest he had come to smiling was once after smacking Keigo across the back of his head, but that doesn't really count. Everyone gets a laugh out of delivering pain to the over-dramatic pervert. If anyone has to smack him, it's usually well-deserved.

However, the slight smirk I saw that day was nothing compared to the smile on his face when he named his friends one by one...though he mistook the other Soul Reaper as someone else. I couldn't blame him, he's not someone I'd be able to remember either, aside from the afro puff.

More mesmerizing than the smile though was his voice. I passed by him often but we were always on opposite sides of the bridge. I never heard him talk when he walked with his friends, only noted his lips moving. Back then, I held no care for what his voice sounded like or any traits of his personality. I didn't need to know and I didn't care to know. After all, what was he to me but a passing image? Even with my keen skills for observation, it was unnerving to have the ability to compare what I'd seen in the past to what I was seeing in those moments in the nearly demolished square. It didn't make any sense.

"Everyone stay where you are," he told them, ignoring the afro dude's complaints about Ichigo naming people based on who he thought they were. "Stay still and don't move."

He seemed so authoritative, compelling, and strong. He had no knowledge that I was there in those moments, but I felt like he was speaking to me too. The fact that I wanted to obey his gentle command made me cringe. I'd never made it a habit in life to take orders from anyone. After living on my own for most of my life, someone ordering me around was agitatedly bothersome. I held no patience for people who thought they needed to step in and protect those deemed weak in their eyes. I'm not weak by any stretch of the word. There's no room for weakness in this kind of world.

Still, coming from this guy, I didn't feel the need to argue. Part of it was probably because I knew he wasn't actually talking to me, but the other part was because his order didn't feel like an ego thing. The order was stated out of necessity, not because he didn't believe his friends could stand up for themselves, more because he knew he was the only one who could stand up against the guy trying to kill them.

I understood that. The guy's spiritual pressure was making my knees shake.

What I didn't understand was how this guy was going to do it. How could he? He had absolutely no spiritual pressure. All of it was gone.

The brunette, butterfly man smirked. "Ichigo Kurosaki."

"_Ichigo Kurosaki." _The name didn't register in my head right away. As the brunette man continued to talk, I pictured all of my memories of the stranger I had passed every day, piecing each one with the name I'd learned. At first it sounded a little strange to me since the first part of his name literally means strawberry. Still, with that bright orange hair of his and the fact that his scowls and smirks scream a certain tart sweetness; the name suited him.

His voice, which had effectively cut off the rantings of the talkative villain, brought me back to the scene.

"Aizen, let's not do this here."

Before I had the chance to mull over that name, the butterfly man let out a chuckle saying, "An impertinent suggestion." He took a step forward. "Only someone who has the power to give me a real challenge has the right to make such a request."

Ichigo almost looked bored by the guy in front of him, a startling thing in itself. Did he not feel this guy's spiritual pressure?

"There's no need to worry," Aizen continued. "I will not destroy Karakura town. You will..."

Whatever Aizen may have wanted to say next was completely derailed by Ichigo slamming the palm of his hand straight into the man's face. Leaping from the ground, Ichigo and Aizen both soared through the sky at a speed that perfectly normal human eyes wouldn't be able to catch, so naturally my impaired eyesight shouldn't have been able to catch any of the movements, especially since said movements sent a cloud of smoke into the air.

But I did see them. I watched them soar through the sky, toward the mountains where my home resided, where my beloved parakeet Armadillo was waiting.

Reacting before thinking, I took off my glasses, stuffing them into my inside pocket of my lightweight denim jacket. Then, concentrating on my energy output, I started running.

Fun fact about me, I'm not a Soul Reaper, but because of my abnormal spiritual pressure I can tap into abilities most Soul Reapers have. One specific ability is called the flash step, or shunpo, which helps the Soul Reapers dodge inhumanly fast attacks as well as get to other areas faster than they could normally. However, with me, using this ability drains nearly all of my energy, so I normally don't use it. Using it has always been a last result in an emergency situation.

Ichigo and this Aizen guy spiraling in the direction of my home was _most definitely_ an emergency situation.

Actually, emergency situation was a gross understatement of how bad this was, so I was running double the speed, pacing out the flash steps every few seconds. Normally I would stop to take short breaks in between to recover some of my spiritual energy, but I knew there was no time for that. I could sense that the battle between the two men was already underway. Getting back home before they destroyed my house and killed my bird and best friend as a result was top priority for me. Sure, in hindsight, Armadillo was just a parakeet. I could easily buy another bird, but Armadillo was the last present my mother bought me before she and my sister disappeared, making the bird priceless. I couldn't let him die for the sheer fact that he was a symbol of my hope, my dream for the future.

Reaching the scene fifteen minutes later, I saw one of the mountains crumble at the sheer power of one of the attacks. The wind was whipping about and the ground shook. It felt like the entire world was falling apart, but I didn't stop or even slow down. Instead I continued down the road, running as fast as my legs would allow, praying over and over that my house would stay in one piece long enough for me to grab Armadillo, pack up a few things, and gather up all the money I could before hightailing it out of there.

I can say that I achieved nearly everything on the list above. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hightail it out of there.

For one thing, the backlash of the battle was too intense. The second I finished packing the roof flew off the house, nearly taking me along with it. Thankfully, I only flew a dozen feet across the living room and no bones were broken from the impact.

After that incident, things around the house, glass things in specific, started flying around, threatening to slam into me as I rushed for the cellar just outside my backdoor. The door had already been ripped off, so it was easy to leave the house. The problem came with trying to hold on to my two brown duffel bags, Armadillo's cage, and my purse while trying to open the cellar doors. Battling against the wind current was tough, but the adrenaline pumping through my veins eventually allowed me to force the doors open. I tossed in my two duffel bags before slowly climbing down the wooden ladder to place Armadillo within his cage next to the bags. After that I climbed back up and reached for the two levers on either door. With a growl I gripped them as tight as I could, pulling against them as the violent wind continued to pull them in the opposite direction I wanted them to move. I could barely see with my shoulder-length hair flying around my face.

"Darn it! Ichigo, I swear if I ever get the chance to talk with you, I'll kill you for this..." my voice trailed off then, my brain pausing on the words that had spilled out of my mouth before thinking, "_WHAT! ARE YOU KIDDING? You don't even know this guy! Please! If you survive this mess you're moving to Honolulu! It's about time you went on vacation!"_

Nodding in consent to what must have been a split personality, I used up a final burst of adrenaline to pull the cellar doors shut. Unfortunately for me, I fell off the ladder as soon as I managed to lock the doors.

Though my butt was sore, I escaped once again without injury.

After thirty minutes of pacing back and forth in the dark cellar and another fifteen minutes of turning the flashlight on and off out of boredom, the cellar doors decide that they weren't sticking around either. Yes, in less than an hour, the only thing keeping a hurricane of energy from flinging me into the sky flew into sky.

I kept my body and Armadillo rooted on the cellar floor for as long as I could, but it wasn't long before we were flung around the cellar, out of the cellar, and into the air. The world spun. I kept a hold of Armadillo's cage but I had no clue whether he was still inside or flying about in the wild wind.

What happened after that is a blur. I remember falling towards the rocks, certain that death was all that awaited me, but next thing I know strong arms have caught me, bringing me to the ground gently. Vaguely I remember the image of staring up into brown eyes that were filled with concern as well as disbelief. A laugh slipped past my lips as my fingers clutched a few strands of long hair.

I muttered out his name, playing with his newly grown black mane and laughed again. "It's nice to meet you." Seconds after, I passed out and whatever happened after I woke up is a giant blur of subconscious memory.

"_Ichigo Kurosaki_," I thought, snapping back to reality. "_There's more out there for him than this provincial life._" Smirking I glanced at him as he walked behind me, his dark gaze on the horizon as the sun slowly began to set.

Still, there's something rather strange about Ichigo. There's just something eerie about him that I can't quite put my finger on. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if I want to know what that foreboding aura I've sensed from the second I first laid eyes on him is. Though that aura disappeared to an extent, some of what I felt before he lost his Soul Reaper powers is still there, just bubbling under the surface.

I think at one time, he was...

One of the Arrancars.

As I walked, I felt my hands clench up into fists. Instinctively my hand starts reaching up to touch the red scar on my forehead, but I resist the urge, remembering that Ichigo is still behind me, watching my every move. He's suspicious of me. He may see me as a threat. The fact I stumbled upon his secret definitely unnerves him, especially when we barely know each other. Sure, this guy has walked me home every day for the past year, but it's not like we talk much. Sometimes there's banter between us, an inquiry from him about my past, why I was in the mountains that day. I've never answered him. The details aren't really important. There are other matters to contend with.

Most importantly, I have to make sure Ichgio doesn't regain his powers as a Soul Reaper. If that happens, the Hollow I sensed in the past may return. He may totally give into that side of him, if that piece of him exists at all. Maybe it doesn't. I hope it doesn't because if it does I'll have no choice.

If he is one of them…I'll have to eliminate him.

I won't make any decisions yet though. I have to continue observing. I have to know more about him.

My best bet at this point is to actually attend this stupid dance. That'll give me an opportunity to really study Ichigo's true nature. After all, if Orihime has anything to say about it, he'll be at that dance along with the other friends who can sense the Hollows. Yeah, Ichigo isn't the only one that isn't normal around here.

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A/N: That's the first chapter. Hope you guys liked it. Please forgive me for late updates on other stories. I promise that I'll do better in the future. However, as far as this story goes it won't be updated for a little while. Yes, I know I'm terrible at organizing these things but hey. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. This is more of test run. A pilot so to speak...so please review and tell me what you guys thought. Constructive criticism is welcome! (And outright gushing is always welcome too, just sayin'.) Anyway, have a nice day everyone!


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